Ayush ministry promoting 'nonsense' unscientific drivel: CPM

After the Ayush ministry released a booklet that said pregnant women should control 'lust', hang "beautiful" pictures on the wall and shun non-vegetarian food to deliver a healthy baby, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) on Wednesday said that instead of discussing the best possible nourishment, the government is promoting this "obscurantism and nonsense" unscientific drivel.

Talking to ANI, CPM leader Brinda Karat said that there should be some action taken against those who are promoting this "nonsense".

"There are many obscurantists all over the world. But the issue here is as to who is promoting this obscurantism. The National Health Ministry shows high rates of malnutrition and anemia among pregnant woman in India. And instead of discussing what is the best nourishment we can provide, they bring out this absolutely absurd, obscurantist, nonsense and it is the public money which have been used to promote this," she said.

"And therefore, I believe that there should definitely be some action taken against those who are promoting this nonsense because it is damaging, it is propagating completely unscientific drivel," she added.

The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) yesterday cleared the air on 'no sex, meat or bad company' during pregnancy and said that this was just a suggestion or an advisory, it's not a prescription.

Speaking to ANI, Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy, Dr. Ishwara Acharya, said, "This was just a suggestion or an advisory. It's not a prescription for pregnant women in India to not have sex, meat or be in bad company if you want to have healthy babies."

Put together by the government-funded Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (PDF,159 KB), whose website describes yoga and naturopathy as the good old Indian traditional systems of health care having the history of centuries, the recommendations were a part of a booklet called 'Mother and Child Care'.

The booklet was released by Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik in the run-up to International Day for Yoga on June 21.